About

South Hollis

This Weekend at Queens Library

Join us this weekend for Kwanzaa celebrations, an open mic with poet Pramila Venkateswaran, an anti-bullying workshop, Saturday Storytime, a Frida Kahlo puppet show, holiday crafts, holiday concerts—including Christmas classics with Charles Duke—and so much more! We hope to see you ...

Video Visitation at Queens Library

Video visitation is a free program offered at libraries across the city that connects a live video feed between participating library locations and NYC Department of Corrections facilities, allowing incarcerated New Yorkers to talk, read, and share stories together with their loved ...

History

The community referred to as South Hollis is actually situated with the northern tip of the St. Albans community boundaries. However, it is called the South Hollis community because it is directly south of the Hollis. The South Hollis Branch opened its doors in 1974. The community of Hollis wherein the branch takes its name was founded in 1885 by Frederick Denton. Frederick Denton intended to name the community Woodhull in honor of General Woodhull captured by the British in1776. The name Hollis was picked to honor his place of birth in New Hampshire.

Hollis landscape gradually changed as trolley service was extended into the area in 1897. Middle class houses gradually appeared around Victorian homes. In 1921, Row house construction further changes the community’s infrastructure. By World War II the residents primarily commuted to work. Taking advantage of the nearby LI Rail Road service.

The ethnic transformation of the Hollis community occurred after 1955. South of the Long Island Rail Road (South Hollis) residents were eighty percent African-American and Latin American by 1980. In the last twenty years, people from the countries of Guyana, Haiti, China, India, Columbia and Jamaica added to the community’s ethnic mix.

Source:

Seyfried, Vincent. “Hollis.” Encyclopedia of New York City. Yale University Press, 1995: 551

Special Services

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one of two American men and one of three American women will have some type of cancer at some point during their lifetime. Queens Library HealthLink seeks to increase access to cancer screening and cancer treatment among medically underserved communities in Queens. Queens Library HealthLink is a partnership between Queens Library, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Queens Cancer Center of Queens Hospital and the American Cancer Society.